


you wash my worries away

by Grimrose



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, Slice of Life, Sort Of, mh are soft boyfriends, snuggles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-03-02 21:03:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18818962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grimrose/pseuds/Grimrose
Summary: Donghyuck drags himself home to a warm welcome with pizza and even warmer embrace.





	you wash my worries away

**Author's Note:**

> Not proofread, we die like men since I should be sleeping right now. Some soft markhyuck for the night!!

Mark has ordered pizza. Donghyuck can smell it as soon as he drags his heavy, aching feet inside, but it's only when he walks in the kitchen and peeks inside the box on the table when he almost lets out a sob. There's pineapple, juicy little pieces of goodness to sweeten the taste of salty ham and Donghyuck skips into the livingroom to slump on Mark, burying his head in the juncture between Mark's neck and shoulder.

“You got hawaiian” he mutters, ridiculously fond and touched for such a small thing, and Mark chuckles as he accommodates to the sudden onslaught of weight against him. The sound of it lightens Donghyuck's mood a little.

“I got pepperoni too,” he says, like it somehow erases the fact that he ordered hawaiian for Donghyuck, and rests his own head on top of his. “Just figured you would like it.”

“You figured right,” Donghyuck sighs. “Today was horrible. And I'm not even exaggerating, it was _horrible._ I kind of still hope I could bury myself into the trashbin outside and never come out.”

“Ah that won't do,” Mark hums, intertwining their fingers and squeezing his hand, and Donghyuck smiles a little when he feels Mark's thumb gently rubbing the skin of his wrist. It feels nice. Really, really nice, and Donghyuck is once again so glad they live together. The fact that he can actually come home to Mark, or welcome him home is amazing and quite honestly he doesn't miss sneaking out at night to meet at all, no matter how romantic it was. High school romance and all that.

Their apartment is small, and truthfully bit crappy but Donghyuck wouldn't trade it for anything. Most importantly he wouldn't trade _living with Mark_  for anything, and it's extra nice after days like this. When everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong at work. When Donghyuck's feet ache and he kind of just wants to cry because he's a mess and he has to go to work _again_ tomorrow. It's Friday and he'll spend the whole Saturday at work, trying to figure out what he's supposed to do and not mess up too bad.

“I'm so tired,” Donghyuck groans, voice little scratchy, and he presses that much more snuggly against Mark who indulges instantly, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and Donghyuck wishes he could just stay here for the whole day tomorrow. Cuddling at the couch with Mark, the comforting weight of his arm around him and so warm and cozy, not touching a single spoon for the whole day. 

“Industrial kitchens are the fucking worst.”

“You've only been there a week, Hyuckie” Mark reminds gently, and Donghyuck wants to whine because that means he still has almost three months left. _Three_. Getting through _one_ feels like a struggle.

“I'm sure it'll get better there,” Mark continues softly, always the optimistic and Donghyuck sighs wistfully. It's not that he doesn't believe that's the case. Hell, after a couple weeks he will probably even _like_ it there. But right now, when Donghyuck still puts pans and whisks and stupid confusing thermo-boxes to wrong places, when he forgets what he's supposed do and messes up the fucking dishwasher more than once and generally inconveniences literally every other person working there, it is very bad. And today might have been the worst of all.

“They hate me” he wails dramatically as the mental images of the day fill his mind again, and Mark pokes him on the side in response, making him twitch away from contact before pressing back.

“I'm sure they don't,” Mark assures calmly. Then after a second, “But if they are mean to you, you can always tell me and I'll kick their asses,” he says.

Donghyuck laughs, a tired, wheezy sound but it's a laugh. The mental image of the cook he hates getting a good ol’ punch on the nose is something he's going to treasure, though. “You? Kicking someone's ass? Are you sure Mark Lee?”

Mark nods. “Yeah.”

He sounds so sure of himself, and Donghyuck laughs again even if just because he's so _fond_ and Mark is silly, and he's _here_ and Donghyuck's _boyfriend._

“Okay then.”

“Do you want to watch something while eating?” Mark asks, craning his head to eye the pizza boxes on their excuse of a dining table, a frown on his face. They're far and require moving from his spot.

“Nah, it's fine” Donghyuck yawns, and Mark hums before carefully pushing himself up from the couch. Donghyuck whines at the loss of warmth, grabby hands reaching for Mark who presses a little kiss on his forehead in apology before going to grab the food. The leather of the couch feels still warm when Donghyuck brushes his fingers across the spot Mark occupied, and he absentmindedly wonders about just planting himself there and sleeping, but eventually decides against it. He has a perfectly good bed waiting for him, after all. 

The pizza is good. It's still lukewarm and it's tasty, and significantly eases Donghyuck's want to dig a hole in the ground for himself, and Mark got him _hawaiian_. But what's the absolute best is when Mark gets up, stretches grandly like the flexible creature he is and scoops Donghyuck up in his arms, too, hands finding purchase under his knees and behind his back before he has time to question.

Donghyuck smiles when he thinks how normally he probably would've had to beg for treatment like this. How Mark would've grumbled about him being heavy and how Donghyuck has ‘perfectly fine legs to walk with’, but tonight Mark says nothing as he carries Donghyuck in their bedroom and gently sets him on their bed.

“Maybe I should have bad days more often to get royal treatment like this,” Donghyuck teases, grinning and Mark scoffs when he throws him a pair of old joggers and a t-shirt. They land on his chest with a soft thump. 

“Shut up, you looked like you were going to fall asleep on the couch”

“I probably would have,” Donghyuck admits easily, too tired to take the conversation further. He changes swiftly, eager to get out of his jeans and under the covers. His muscles feel stiff, and Donghyuck doesn't know if Mark saw him rubbing his shoulder earlier, but he lifts a hand to massage the muscles there regardless when they both burrow under the blankets, and Donghyuck is eternally grateful.

“I still have three days left before I have one free day,” Donghyuck mumbles sleepily. He tries to keep awake, not ready fo the day to end yet because that means going to work, and Donghyuck really just rather not think about that. “Can we go somewhere then?”

“Sure,” Mark agrees, brushing a hand through Donghyuck's hair so it's not falling over his eyes. It sends a pleasant little shiver through him, warming his heart and Donghyuck tugs Mark's hand to himself when he's about to pull it back to give a soft kiss on his palm.

“I'm sorry I've been such a tired potato lately.”

Marl giggles. “It's fine,” he whispers, and Donghyuck know it is, but that doesn't mean he doesn't feel a little bad. "It's a lot to get used to, and your brain's doing a lot of work now, too so that doubles the exhaustion. It will get easier, trust me.” Marl assures, and Donghyuck hums before snuggling to his chest.

He wraps their legs together, and Mark hisses when Donghyuck's cold feet come in contact with his bare skin. Mark smells faintly like his showergel that's probably named something supposedly manly like 'cool mountain breeze’, laundry detergent, and like the pizza they just ate, and Donghyuck inhales deep the familiar, comforting smell. 

“I hope so,” he mumbles, a little late. "Do you think I'll remember where to put the special cauldrons tomorrow?” he adds quietly, voice muffled against the fabric of Mark's sleeping shirt. He can't possibly know whether Donghyuck will remember or not, but he asks anyway.

Mark breathes out, air brushing against Donghyuck's scalp and his voice is laced with sleep when he answers. “Yeah, yeah I think you will.”

“Okay,” Donghyuck nods, oddly and without much logic feeling more confident with just that one sentence. Then, after a beat of silence: “I love you, Mark”

“I love you too.”

The kitchen may think it has him, but it feels increasingly easier to trust things to get better eventually. And even if tomorrow was just as bad as today, at least Donghyuck can look forward to snuggling against Mark at the end of the day. Feeling warm, cozy and utterly loved. And no matter how fierce of a dish duty, scrubbing Donghyuck, too out of all his energy over the course of the day, no one can take _this_ away from him.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, this was literally just me pouring my frustration abt my summer job into a little silly fic and making Donghyuck the surrogate victim. I'm sorry, I love you my son. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, kudos and comments are appreciated!! <3
> 
> *Edit: Now with typos and other odd messes fixed !!


End file.
